Family Ties
by PersephoneAurora
Summary: Rodolphus' and Bellatrix's devotion to the dark lord steems from a deep hatred for all things Muggle. But is devotion still devotion when it was forced and manipulated? What if you think happened did not happen at all?
1. Chapter 1

p class="p1"span class="s1"Lestrange Manor was completely surrounded by darkness, rooms completely out of order, but none more than the nursery, where Rodolphus Lestrange kneels, fingers tight against the blood-stained plushie being pushed against his face swallowing his screams and tears./span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1" /span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"At the door, two figures look in sadly./span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1" /span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1""Has he…?" the first, soft of voice, poised in grief, perfectly manicured nails catching in the silk of her dress, asks, unable to complete the sentence./span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1" /span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1""No…" A deeper trembling voice answers. "Not slept, not eaten, not even changed his clothes."/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1" /span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1""And… Bella?" the woman looks down, her lower lip trembling, before taking a breath and controlling her features./span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1" /span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1""She… She's resting now. The Dark Lord was able to subdue her. " Brown eyes meet blue "He is with her even now."/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1" /span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"The woman simply raises a perfect pale brow. She sighs and walks into the room, her eyes avoiding all the places still thick with blood./span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1" /span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"She places a hand on Rodolphus shoulder softly, feeling his wreckous trembling./span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1""Rod…" She calls softly "come on, let us get you cleaned up." She pulls him up and starts to guide him towards his brother "Come on. We must let the Aurors do their job."/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1" /span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1""Not Dumbledores men." He mumbles/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1" /span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1""Of course not Rod. We made sure the men here are our people ok? And Amelia Bones. She heels to no one."/span/p 


	2. Chapter 2

p class="p1"span class="s1"Tom smiled to himself as he looked upon Bellatrix's raging features. She always had been easy to manipulate, but now, in her weakened state, with a missing child, convinced it had been killed by muggles…/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1" /span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"She was ripe for the picking. Which also ensured the Lestrange vast empire would be behind him and his cause./span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1" /span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"All that was left was to deal with the brothers. The suspicious little mongrels were smarter and less taken in by hate than most their peers. They had started asking questions. He admitted they raised good points, however, it would not do for them to unravel all his hard work./span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1" /span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"He had just incensed a room filled with purebloods with the tale of Talitha Lestrange, taken from her crib, assaulted and possibly murdered, by muggles. The cruelty of such an act on a child a few months old… It gave him fuel to incense them all for months, if not years./span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1" /span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"If only it were /span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1" /span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"He was interrupted by Bellatrix's announcement that the brothers were arriving./span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1" /span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"He cups her cheek gently. "And you know what to do, don't you Bella?"/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1" /span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1""Yes, My Lord!" She states fervently "I will not fail you!" she bows lowly and Tom smirks, pleased. He grabs to vials and pours them in the tea./span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1" /span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1""Remember, repeat it exactly as we practiced and revenge will be yours"/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1" /span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1""And all the filth will die" She states manically./span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1" /span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1""Yes, they will! But for that, the brothers can not get in our way, Bella. They must appear, to all eyes to support us in all our endeavors!"/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1" /span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1""They will My Lord!" her eyes half close in rage. "And if the potion fails they will die!"/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1" /span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"Tom licks his lips as he takes the woman in. His greatest creation. He did not even have to prompt her to violence anymore. And to think all he had to do was fake her child's death. If he knew he'd have done it sooner…/span/p 


	3. Chapter 3

p class="p1"The Death Eaters left the room, leaving her laying on the floor. Her throat is sore, her muscles throb from the cruciatus and her arm, where Bellatrix had carved emthat/em word, felt as if it was still being cut class="Apple-converted-space" /span/p  
p class="p2" /p  
p class="p1""You shouldn't try to move." A deep voice states and she feels him approaching her. He waves his wand over her and her muscles stop shaking. He helps her sit up and cleans her tears from her face using rough hands. Next, he grabs for her arm and inspects the wound pressing the carved words and ignoring Hermione's flinching. "She got you good huh? Used the cursed knife dear Aunt Walburga used to favor…"/p  
p class="p1"He spreads a smelly paste over her arm and bandages it./p  
p class="p2" /p  
p class="p1""What does that mean?" she whispers. He does not reply, just sighs and picks her up carrying her to the class="Apple-converted-space" /span/p  
p class="p2" /p  
p class="p1"She's being surrounded by Ron and Harry and Luna as soon as she arrives./p  
p class="p2" /p  
p class="p1""Wait!" She calls as he's leaving "Why did you help me?"/p  
p class="p2" /p  
p class="p1""My daughter would have been your age had your kind not killed her."span class="Apple-converted-space" /span/p  
p class="p2" /p  
p class="p1"He leaves and Hermione hugs her friends class="Apple-converted-space" /span/p 


End file.
